Toaru Majutsu no Index: Keeper
by Kaizer23
Summary: A rewrite of the manga/anime/light novel. Slight AU.
1. Index Librorum Prohibitorum

**Introductions:** This is Kaizer23 with another written work! This fan fiction is basically a rewrite of the manga and anime (and later on – if I get that far – the light novel). As this is the case, I shall be taking scenes and dialogues from the stated media. This is not to say, that this will have no original ideas (but yes this will look like a written version of the canon - for the mean time).

I have modified Touma's character, the true extent of which will be said down in the author's notes below if you didn't get it all by reading this chapter.

The original arcs of this fan fiction will be taking place somewhere in between the Angel Fall Arc and the Three story arc. So until then, the arcs would take place as they did in the above medias with some minor changes. Things would start changing heavily, by around the Daihaseisai Arc (or even earlier).

I probably won't get all details and information correct (though, I will try to do so)... so if that's the case just consider it an AU part of this fan fiction.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Toaru Majutsu no Index/とある魔術の禁書目録, or its characters.

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><p>Kamijou Touma had two catchphrases ever since he entered Academy City. One was, and the most frequently used, is 'such misfortune!' The other, to a lesser extent and only used when he was serious, was the catchphrase 'I'll break your illusions!'<p>

Academy City is a city filled with Espers. Despite this, only 80% are considered as such while the others are only in Academy City for academic purposes. Espers are placed into 6 different classes. Level 5 Espers are the strongest type of espers. By strong, this refers to the strength, or how effectively one can use their abilities. This had always been the case as not everyone had the same abilities. As Level 5 is the highest, Level 0 is the lowest. Level 0 Espers are espers that have apparently shown no latent ability despite going through the process of becoming an esper. This is not to say that Level 0 don't have any abilities, rather, it means that their abilities have yet to manifest themselves or can't be properly ranked with the current system. Level 0 Espers also make 40% of the total espers in Academy City.

Touma Kamijou is a Level 0 Esper (though this is a title that was given to him by the higher ups in Academy City as he is in fact not an esper at all). Although this is the case, Touma Kamijou was unique in a sense. Despite being a Level 0 Esper, he had three mainly unique things about him. One most distinguishing factor, the one that had allow him to survive from Esper related attacks (attacks that was mainly due to him intervening for someone's safety) is his right hand, The Imagine Breaker. His right hand can cancel any and all supernatural abilities. Oddly enough though, the power was only concentrated at his right arm. This however, comes with a price. It also nullified God's blessings thus leaving him completely unlucky. The second unique thing about Touma was his fighting ability. Years of fending for himself in a city filled with Espers and unruly gangs had honed his skills to maximize his fighting capabilities and to efficiently use his Imagine Breaker. Also, he had not gone through the power development curriculum. Which meant, that his Imagine Breaker was with him from the day he was born. The third unique aspect about Touma is his ability to sense AIM dispersion. Initially, he never knew he had it – in fact, when he asked himself why he would unconsciously move his right arm to the correct places, he couldn't come up with anything. Eventually, after a few more battles, he could consciously sense _something_ from espers and their attacks. Using this _something_ he could easily maneuver and block attacks from espers he had never even met before.

Touma also had a tendency on saving people, even thought they hadn't asked for his help. This had got him into many misunderstandings and problems that he could no longer remember even the most minor of them all.

His heroic feats had apparently attracted the attention of Skill Out a few years back. He outright, refused to join them as he didn't look to beat Espers, but only protect those that needed protecting. They were unwilling to part with him, so he challenged the leader into a match, that if he won, they would leave him alone – the leader of Skill Out, accepted. It was a battle that tested his fighting ability to the limit.

The battle ended nearly in his loss, but Anti-Skill happened to be in the area and stopped the fight. For some reason, they didn't pursue him after the incident. The after effects of such a confrontation however, had created the urban legend of the _'the one that is above all.'_ The said urban legend basically referred to Touma's ability to cancel any and all supernatural abilities, and the fact that he was said to be unbeatable despite not showing any other abilities. It has even got exaggerated to the point that the rumor had gone to say he was an unknown level 5 and had an attack that couldn't be seen by mortal eyes. Thankfully, he wasn't identified as _'the one that is above all.'_ And due to the nature of the rumor, it made him a lot more cautious on who can know about his ability.

It didn't help that some Skill Outs practically worshiped the ground he walked in.

* * *

><p><em>My name is Kamijou Touma. I'm currently living a life which is undoubtedly blessed by misfortune.<em>

* * *

><p>It was July 19th and the school summer break had begun.<p>

Touma decided to have a small celebration for passing his first year in high school with flying colors. He was considered the academic genius of his high school with only one major flaw. He sucked in anything related to Espers. This had made him the laughing stock of his year despite his good grades. An esper failing at the subject about espers? It truly was a depressing thought.

Touma had just entered a family restaurant and noticed a familiar looking girl being accosted by a shady looking guy.

Upon closer inspection, it was Biribiri. Otherwise known as Mikoto Misaka.

Mikoto Misaka was one of the seven Level 5 Espers in Academy City. She ranked third strongest out of all the level 5 espers in the city. She study's in one of the most prestigious middle schools in Academy City, Tokiwadai. She also was called the ace of Tokiwadai as she's one of the two level 5 of the said school. Despite her Ojou-sama like background, she was hot headed and prone to outbursts – as his previous encounter with her had shown.

She, thankfully, had not heard about the rumors that referred to him. He had sneaking suspicion that things will get a lot worse if she found out.

Deciding to save the guys from the pain, he decided to intervene – and that was when his misfortune struck.

A blur of events took place which had him running from the said restaurant to the Truss Bridge of Academy City. He apparently pissed off the guy that was accosting Biribiri, and the said guy brought his gang with him to the store.

Collapsing onto his feet, he managed a sigh of relief. It looks like he lost them. He wondered if it really was worth saving those punks from being fried.

"Such misfortune..."

Indeed, he was extremely unfortunate. This was the fifth time this week alone that he had been running for his life.

Just as he thought he was alone, he heard foot steps behind him.

Years of misfortune had apparently honed his senses to the point that if he had met the person before, he would know who it was just by sensing there presence. And since this particular presence was a lot like electricity...

The person behind him was undoubtedly Misaka Mikoto.

"I don't know what you were trying to do..." the girl that he had recognized earlier drawled out. "Being the good Samaritan on saving those delinquents must be pretty stupid... So I took care of them."

_'Well that was pointless exertion...' _Touma stood up to face the girl which he had referred to as 'Biribiri.'

"Do you know what is a railgun?" Misaka asked while flipping a coin into the air.

Touma nodded.

"I see..." She then charged the coin with lightning she flipped into the air and flicked it towards Touma. The coin however was not aimed at his body but rather as a show of power.

Touma stood unperturbed by the show of power. Why should he when this girl always attempted to challenge him every single time they met?

"Did you use that against them?" Touma inquired. Despite the fact that the people who got hurt were delinquents, he always looked for other people's safety. He also had the sneaking suspicion that he knew where this conversation would eventually end up.

"What do you think I am?" She asked sarcastically. "An idiot? Of course not! But there's still one person I haven't fried today."

Touma would have gulped nervously if this was the first time he had been in the receiving end of a lightning attack, but the constant challenges had served to null his feeling regarding the impending attack. Nevertheless, he didn't want to still be in the receiving end of an attack. "He - Hey now... I'm a level 0 too you know."

Misaka didn't answer, but instead released a torrent of lightning towards Touma.

Touma acted by placing his right hand in front of him.

His right hand acted like a lightning rod and quickly attracted and dispelled the attack. His Imagine Breaker had once again saved him from an esper attack.

"If you're really a level 0, then how come you survived that unharmed?" Misaka asked.

"I don't know how to put it. Supernatural abilities, good luck, miracles – all is canceled by my right hand." Touma looked menacingly towards Misaka. "This is your misfortune."

Misaka took a step back, for a moment looking frightened. This guy – how can a level 0 come out of _that _unharmed?

She blasted another torrent of lightning towards Touma until she collapsed to the ground.

"I win this battle Biribiri!" Touma said as triumphantly as he could despite the fact that he was having difficulty breathing due to the electricity in the air. "So... give up!"

This had apparently pissed her off, "Damn you!"

Lightning surged from the sky, destroying all the electrical circuits in a one mile radius.

* * *

><p><em>Following Morning<em>

It was truly summer indeed.

The lightning storm caused by Misaka Mikoto had fried all of his dorms circuits making his room as hot as hell, and his food to have all expired due to the extreme heat. Going out to the local library would have been option... if his teacher hadn't called him.

His teacher Komoe, an adult that had the frame of a 10 year old child, had apparently called him for remedial lessons regarding on the subjects about espers.

So he decided to clean around the house for a while until it was time for school lessons.

It was also at this point that his misfortune once again manifested itself. While cleaning his room, the debit card that he was looking for broke when he accidentally stepped on it – which means that he couldn't possibly get any food for the day since he barely had any money left on his wallet.

Sighing to himself, he decided to air out his futon until he noticed that there was already something or _someone _out on his balcony.

"Eh? I'm already airing one out?" Touma took a closer look, that was when the said person that looked a lot like a nun started moving.

"Hungry..." She said quietly before repeating, "I'm hungry..."

_'The nun is speaking Japanese?' _Was what was apparently going through Touma's mind.

She then looked at Touma as if blaming him for not reacting accordingly, "I said I'm hungry."

Touma slowly took a step backwards, unsure of what he should do.

As soon as taking a few step back, he stepped into a yakisoba bread that had gone bad due to the lack of electricity within his room.

Touma stopped and took the bread, which was still wrapped in plastic, to the girl, "Is this alright?"

This had to be one of the least nicest thing he's done in the last month or so, but he had already been bemoaning his misfortune since the beginning of the day. He was practically at the limit of his patience!

"Thank you!" She said cheerfully complete oblivious to the state of the food. She then opened her mouth wide, and took a huge bite off of the food – along with Touma's hand.

After feeding the sister looking girl, Touma asked while rubbing his sore hand, "My name's Kamijou Touma, who are you and what were you doing at my balcony?"

"My name's Index, I'm a sister-in-training. My magician name is Dedicatus545, which means 'a sheep dedicated to protecting the knowledge of the strong.' I was being pursued by magicians for the 103,000 grimoires that I hold." She said earnestly. "My intention was to jump from building to building, but I fell onto your balcony

_'Magicians? Grimoires?' _Touma thought to himself. "Where are these grimoires that you have? I don't see you carrying anything."

"It's all right here." She said almost triumphantly.

"Here?" Touma looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. "Do you have a key to a big warehouse?

"No."

"You're not going to tell me that these are books that dumb people can't see, are you?" Touma asked jokingly.

"People that aren't dumb can't see them either." She replied, apparently not seeing that Touma was joking. "It'd be meaningless if people could see them."

"And... who's after you?" Touma said changing the subject.

"The magic society."

"Eh? Magic..?"

"Eh? Was my Japanese weird?" Index asked, she then tried to clarify what she meant, "Magic. The Magic Cabal."

"Is that a religious group or something?" Touma asked.

"Somehow I have the feeling you're making fun of me." Index said looking at him intently. "You are making fun of me, right?"

"Sorry this is impossible." Touma replied. "I know of many esper abilities, but magic is out of the question." Living in a society where science makes the supernatural pretty much makes magic an impossible thing for someone who lives in Academy City. "Supernatural powers within this Academy City are quite normal. Science can develop anything."

"It's weird that you believe in supernatural powers and yet you don't believe in magic!" Index said.

"Then, what is magic?" Touma asked. "Show me some."

"I don't have any mana so I can't use any." She replied quickly.

"If you can't use any, then I wouldn't be able to know if magic really does exist!"

"It does!" She answered back. "Magic does exist."

Touma sighed, he might as well change the subject before they get into a shouting match. "I've possessed some weird power for my entire life."

"Weird power?"

"If I come into contact with an esper ability with this right hand, be it a railgun or a lightning attack, even a miracle of God can be dispelled." Touma said while looking at his right hand. Looking at Index, he noticed her actions, "What's with that 'screw the shopping channel' look on your face?"

"Well, an atheist like you is saying a miracle of God can be dispelled." Index said mockingly.

_'That little - !' _Touma thought at the rebuke. "To think that I'd be taken for a fool by some phony magical girl."

"I'm not a phony!" She snapped back.

"Then show me something!" Touma shot back. "If I punch that with my right hand, then you'll have to believe my right hand's power."

"Fine!" She said standing up, "I'll show you then!" She motioned towards her clothing, "This clothing! It's a very powerful defensive barrier called "the Walking Church"!"

"What are you talking about?" Touma asked, "All you've been doing is throwing weird terminology at me. I still have no clue whatsoever."

Index started swinging her hand wildly, completely frustrated at Touma's stubborn disbelief on magic. She then rushed towards where the kitchen supplies are and brings out a knife.

"I'll prove it instead of this talking!" Index said as she brought the knife to the living room. "Use this knife to stab my stomach!"

"Wh-what?" Touma asked hesitantly.

"This is a church in the form of a clothing that possesses the absolute minimum elements that make up a church." Index explained. She then brought the knife extremely close to Touma, "A stab from a knife won't hurt me at all."

"Then I'll stab you – or did you really think I'd say that?" With his luck, he'd be blamed of attempted murder just by agreeing to her demand. _'Wait... is 'it' on her clothing and coming out from her?'_

"You really are making fun of me!" She said frustratedly. "This is an accurate copy of the Holy Shroud of Turin! It's hardness is of Pope class. It can turn aside any attack, be it physical or magical or anything, and it absorbs impact!"

"Basically if that really is magic, then it'll be destroyed once it comes into contact with my right hand."

"If your power is actually au-then-tic~." She said mockingly

This apparently provoked Touma, "If you're going that far... then I'll really do it!" Standing up he grasped towards Index's clothing with his right hand. Completely ignoring the fact that if the clothing is truly magical, then he would have essentially stripped the girl.

"Huh?" Nothing was happening.

"See nothing's happening!" Index said as she made triumphant gesture.

A few moments later however, the clothing shredded apart.

"Uhh..." His face turning red at the turn of events.

"What?"

"W-well..." Touma murmured as he took a nervous step back.

Index looked at where Touma had his eyes on.

A scream rang throughout the dormitory followed by the sound of a bite.

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><p>"Ugh... You bit me all over the place..." Touma said as he rubbed the bite marks. He could have easily avoided the bitesif he wasn't partially to blame for her current state. "What are you? Some fly from some summer camp?"<p>

Behind him, Index was covered with a blanket.

"Sorry about that," Touma apologized. "That was really my bad. So -"

He immediately tilted his head to the left as his alarm clock went where his head was moments ago.

"I don't understand how you can talk to me after what just happened." Index muttered darkly facing him.

"Well... I got caught in the confusion somewhat..." Touma murmured. "So how should I put it..."

"Make fun of me will you? Hmph!" She turned around once again.

Touma sighed. He then looked over at his right arm. _'The fact that her clothing reacted with my right hand pretty much verified the fact that her clothing is indeed something supernatural, and since it's from the clothing, she's just a normal person...'_

Touma was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Index say, "Done!"

Turning around to face Index, Index took of the blanket she had over herself to reveal her Walking Church fixed through the usage of multiple safety pins.

"What's with the... Iron Maiden?" Touma asked.

"It's called the mat of needles in Japanese." She replied before quickly turning depressed.

Touma looked over at his alarm clock, and he remembered the phone call he had this morning.

"Crap!" Touma said frantically as he made a grab for his bag.

"What's wrong?" Index asked worriedly.

"I have remedial lessons today!"

"Eh?"

"Anway, you can stay here if you want." Touma offered.

"It's okay." She said shaking her head. "I'll leave. If I stay here, they'll definitely find this place. You don't want this room to explode right?" She then walked over to the door.

"Wait!" As he attempted to follow, but quickly tripped and landed on his alarm clock.

"Your right hand," She said facing him. "I think it's something that erases things like good luck and blessings of God. Just by your right hand coming in contact with the air, you'll keep encountering misfortune!"

_'So that's the reason?'_ Touma then slumped down to all fours. "Such Misfortune..."

Adding salt to an open wound, she continued, "If you ask me, I think being born with such a power is a misfortune in and of itself."

_'Wait... screw my current situation! I'm already used to it!' _Touma faced Index once again, "Do you have anywhere to go once you leave here?"

Index merely smiled at him, "The enemy will come if I stay here."

"The magicians right? But how will they find you?"

"This clothing functions through mana." Index said. "I think they're applying a search based on mana signature of this clothing. But don't worry. If I can make it to the Church, they'll help hide me."

"Now hold on!" Touma said as he stood up. "Do you think I'd let you go without any help now that I've heard of this?"

"Then, would you accompany me to the depths of hell?" She said with an empty smile.

That statement made Touma hesitate.

Seeing his expression, Index said her farewell and made her way out of his room.

Regaining his composure, Touma yelled over to the girl, "You're welcome to come back if you're in trouble again!"

"Yeah I'll come again when I'm hungry!" She said as she went down using the elevator.

Sighing, Touma headed back to his room and found that the sister had left her hood in his room. Shaking his head, she'll come back for it if she needed it. Putting on his shoes, he headed out to his school.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<br>**This ends chapter one...

Ok here are the main changes with Touma's character:

1. His 'partial precognition' that is identified by Accelerator at Volume 20 of the novel has already developed to the point that he could actually consciously sense it.  
>2. He's a lot more used to combats (though he's only slightly stronger than the Touma of the animemanga).  
>3. He never went through the power development program.<br>4. Imagine Breaker is currently, only concentrated at his right hand (which I believe is not really a change).  
>5. He's a genius regarding subjects that are not in the supernatural (despite that it's a science in this world).<p>

I just added the thing about Skill Out since it seemed weird that he wouldn't have been involved with Skill Out in the many years he had been in Academy City. This is not to say that this won't play a role later on...

Aside from that, he's pretty the same from the anime/manga/light novel. He'll only have deeper insight on things from time to time.

That aside, depending on how people take this, this will have a regular update time of 1-2 weeks. Though after every arc, I shall be taking a break (I won't state how long).

I was never actually quite sure with this chapter... so I might rewrite this at a later date.

Anyway, constructive criticism or just plain reviews/comments are appreciated!


	2. Innocentius

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Toaru Majutsu no Index in anyway, be it manga, anime, or light novel.

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><p>"Okay then, let us begin the extra lessons." Tsukuyomi Komoe said as she entered her classroom.<p>

Standing only 135cm tall, and with the build and voice of a 10 year old despite her age, she has been classified as one of the seven mysteries of Academy City. It didn't help that she tended to act like a 10 year old instead of her own age.

"I put in some effort and made a quiz for you all, so I'll be handing these out right away. If you have bad marks, you'll have to go through the 'see through' punishment game." She said.

The class collectively groaned.

"The 'see through' one?" Tsuchimikado Motoharu asked, "Is that the one where you play poker blindfolded?"

"She won't let you go home until you win ten games in a row at that." Aogami Pierce replied.

Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce were Kamijou Touma's friends. Tsuchimikado was a Level 0 esper. He wore shades where ever he went and he also had a tendency of exposing his chest went he isn't in school. He was pretty knowledgeable and Touma was pretty sure that if he putted some effort he could easily ace all of his classes, but due to his laziness, he was attending the remedial lessons with him.

Aogami Pierce was a mystery that Touma never attempted to delved on merely because he still valued his life. Touma may have fought off many people in his stay in Academy City, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't stand a chance against Pierce, should the latter get serious. Aside from this, Aogami Pierce was also a huge pervert.

The two had made it there life goal (as far as he was concerned) to get all type of girls to join his harem (though to be blunt, he stated that he was only attracted to Onee-chan type girls). He vehemently denied the fact that he purposely attracted girls nor did he have a harem, but the males in his high school had to grudgingly agree that despite his horrible luck on everyday things, he had incredible luck on girls.

"Sheesh..." Tsuchimikado drawled out. "We were forced to stay through the night last time."

"Kamijou-chan." Komoe said as she wrote on the board. "Since your score at the System Scan was pretty bad, you'll end up playing the 'see through' game either way."

Touma sighed. _'Why do higher ups put me through the system scan when they know I'm not an esper anyway? It's like they're purposely making me fail a class...'_

"Komoe-chan loves you so much, Kami-yan." Pierce said smiling at Touma.

"Aogami, don't you sense the evil intent behind her?" Touma replied.

"To be able to enjoy scolding from a child like that, Kami-yan, you'll gain plenty of experience points, man!"

"So not are you a lolicon but you're also a masochist?" Touma muttered under his breath. "You're hopeless."

Aogami apparently took this as a compliment. "It's not 'I like lolis' but rather 'I also like lolis!'"

"You people over there." Komoe said turning around with a smile. "If you speak another word, you'll be doing a 'Columbus' egg, okay? Do I make myself clear?"

Touma sighed. "Such Misfortune."

Touma could hardly care less in things related to Espers. If possible, he would rather leave Academy City. The main reason that he had left his hometown, was the fact that his right hand back then, caused misfortune to not only himself, but to people around him. It was only when he got to Academy City that he started to attract misfortune of those around him, and not give it to people whom he came into contact with.

He wasn't even an esper to begin with.

When he began fighting espers, he had gained a sort of sixth sense to where attacks would appear from. He couldn't sense it from himself or normal people like his teacher Tsukuyomi Komoe, he could only sense it from espers and most recently, the clothing of the girl that had appeared in his balcony (though it was notably different). So he pretty much classified himself as a normal person with a special ability (then again, he was beginning to wonder if he had the esper ability to sense people with supernatural powers).

Speaking of his said special ability, it was only concentrated at his right hand. If he was to get hit anywhere else by an esper attack, he would undoubtedly get hurt or killed.

The higher ups of Academy City, wanted to keep the farce that he was a Level 0 up as much as possible, as far as Touma knew. They were the sole reason that he didn't go through the power development program – not that he cared. He didn't plan to become an esper when he came to Academy City – he only came to avoid all the superstitious people back at his home town.

Touma turned to the window. The face of the sister that had appeared at his balcony flashed before his mind. _'I wonder what she's doing now. She forgot her hood back in my room... but what was all that? 103,000 grimoires, where does she put all that?'_

_'I have it all right here?' _Index's face flashed before his mind. Producing a wistful smile he thought, _'She'll come back to pick up what she forgot someday.'_

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Aogami speak, "Sensei~ Kamijou-kun has his eyes stuck on the skirts of the girls' tennis club!"

_'Huh? What?'_ Touma thought as he noticed that his teacher had began to cry.

Every person in the room had began to glare at Touma with contempt while muttering, "He made her cry..."

* * *

><p>It was about afternoon when the extra lessons came into an end. Due to his so called wondering eye, he had to stay for the whole day and most of the afternoon. This was also the reason he was walking home – he had missed his train.<p>

As he was walking home, his misfortune had to make itself known - again.

"I've found you!" Came the voice of the girl from Tokiwadai as she approached him. "This time we'll - "

For the safety of his sanity and his body, he decided to ignore the girl and kept walking.

"Hey hold it!" Apparently she was persistent. "I was talking to you!" She said as she followed him.

Touma kept on going hoping that she would leave him alone.

"I WAS TALKING TO YOU!" the girl then slams her feet onto the ground and sent torrents of electricity through it, had Touma not acted fast enough and placed his right arm on the ground, he would have undoubtedly been shocked. The cleaning robots around the area however, were not so lucky and were knocked to the ground.

This interaction had apparently attracted the attention of everyone in the area.

Sighing to himself he decided to answer her, "What do you want Biribiri?"

"You've always called me Biribiri ever since we've met!" She said furiously. "I have a proper name you know! It's Misaka Mikoto!"

"Well? What do you want Biribiri?" Touma said, completely ignoring her earlier statement. "That clothing... you've got remedial lessons too?"

"Don't lump me with you!" She replied.

"Anyway, I want to challenge you into a battle!" Mikoto said. "This time I'll completely fry you until your legs keep on twitching! So prepare yourself a will and have your wealth distributed!"

"No way."

She then blasted a torrent of lightning towards Touma, which he easily nullified with his right hand. "Well? Are you ready to battle now?"

"What's with you!" Touma snapped at her. "Because of all those thunderbolts that you rained over the city, the circuits in my dorm had all fried! Due to that all the food in my fridge all died!"

"It's because you were such a jerk!" She retorted.

"I don't even know how you got that angry." Touma muttered. "I haven't even laid a finger on you!"

"And I haven't also." Mikoto agreed. "So for the benefit of both sides, the battles up till now is considered a tie!"

"Ha?" Touma then remembered that she declared the battles won't stop until she has won. Turning away from her and going back to walking towards his dorm, he said, "Then you can have the victory."

"Oi! Take me seriously!"

"Then I could go against you with everything I have?" Touma said, while giving a piercing stare towards Mikoto.

This made Mikoto hesitate.

Turning around Touma muttered, "The phony magician this morning and the middle school shocker in the afternoon. I must truly be unfortunate..."

_'Magician?'_ Mikoto thought.

The cleaning robots that were in the vicinity when Mikoto decided to shock everyone in the nearby area, started to make sounds.

"MESSAGE! MESSAGE! DETECTED ELECTRICAL WAVE THAT VIOLATES THE ELECTRICAL WAVE LAW! IRREGULARITY IN THE SYSTEM CONFIRMED." The cleaning robots then stood up while emitting an emergency siren and started to go at the direction of both Mikoto and Touma.

Touma, having gone through this before started running as fast as he could even though he wasn't the actual target. Mikoto however decided to run along with him.

"You idiot! Don't just go shocking things at a place like this!" Touma said frantically.

"Shut up! Just keep on running!"

* * *

><p>After having lost the cleaning robots, Touma and Mikoto went their separate ways.<p>

Once he reached his dormitory, he looked around. '_She isn't here huh?'_

Shaking his head, it seemed he had an affection for the girl. He then went to the elevator to reach the floor that his room resided in.

As Touma came out of the elevator, he immediately tensed. There was undoubtedly something odd in the air.

As he walked forward, his right hand seemed to have made contact with something within the air before the sound of shattering glass rang out. _'What the - ?'_

Rushing over to his room, he found Index on the ground. Upon closer inspection, she had a deep wound on her back. It seemed to have been made by some long sword.

"I don't know how you entered the Runes but..." A voice said behind him. Looking over to the direction of the person, it was a red haired man that had a bar code like tattoo right below his right eye. "We shall be taking _that_ back."

Touma slowly placed Index to the ground, standing up, he glared at the man before him, "Are you the one that did this to Index?"

"Not exactly, it was my partner that did it. Nevertheless, we will do everything in our power to get our hands with the 103,000 books of magic within her head." He said without a hint of concern. "Now, hand her over."

_'So these are the people that are after Index.' _Touma clenched his fists. "Like, hell I'll give her to the people that she's running away from!"

Rushing over to the man, he cocked his right fist back and attempted to knock the man out.

The man merely side stepped, completely avoiding the attack.

"Stiyl Magnus, is how I'd introduce myself, but for now just call me Fortis931." The man said as he turned towards him.

_'A magician name?' _Touma then remembered what Index had said to him.

_'My magician name is Dedicatus545 'the lamb that protects the knowledge of the strong!'_

_'Then that means -!'_

"In Japanese it means something like 'the strong' I guess. But like language matters... It's my magic name, not used to hearing it?"

Touma remained unfazed and continued to glare at the man.

"Apparently we magicians shouldn't say our name when using magic." Stiyl continued, "I don't really quite get it, but it's something like an old tradition, but what's important is that I gave you my magician name." Pausing for a moment. "Among our people, this magic name is more like a murderer's nickname."

Stiyl then takes out the cigarette he was smoking from his mouth. The cigarette then turned into a fireball.

"Fire..."

Touma mentally prepared himself for battle. _'If it's magic then it's obviously considered supernatural, then my right hand would surely cancel it's effect!'_

"This is the gift of the giant!" Stiyl then throws the fireball that has gathered in his right palm at Touma.

The fire engulfed the floor, melting metals and incinerating plants that were on the dormitory walk way.

Stiyl looked over at the destruction he wrought, "Did I overdo it? That's too bad... with his level, it'd be the same result no matter how many times it's repeated." He then turned towards Index, confident that the student was dead.

"Who..." Stiyl immediately turned towards the voice, shock clearly etched unto his face, "Who are you saying can't win no matter how many times it's repeated?"

From the smokes, Touma appeared unharmed, with his right arm placed right in front of him.

"Impossible...!" Stiyl took a step back.

Touma slowly walked forward, his steps sending chills down the magician's spine.

"You little - !" Stiyl threw another torrent of flame towards Touma. This time however, Touma placed his right hand in front of him, and clutched at the flames. The flames became solid upon his right hand's grasp and made the sound of glass shattering as it dispersed.

"I see... that power... it was the one that broke the Walking Church." Stiyl muttered to himself.

Touma slowly walked towards the magician.

"_One of the five major elements which make up this world..." _Flames started to circle around Stiyl's feet. "_...the great fire of genesis the light of blessing which nurtures life..."_

_'What now?' _Touma thought as he looked over at the magician.

The fire had now completely gathered around the magician, "..._and the light of judgement which punishes evil. While it brings a gentle fortune, at the same time, it is the frosty misfortune which annihilates the cold darkness. Its name is fire. Its role the sword! Show yourself by devouring my body and show your might!"_

A being made from fire roared and appeared from the fire that was gathering around Stiyl. "The witch hunting pope, Innocentius. It's meaning... 'kill thy enemy'."

The being called Innocentius, lunged at Touma.

_'I don't know what the properties are... but since it's magic my right hand should cancel it!' _Touma thought as he waved the being away with his right arm. Innocentius was seemingly blown away by his right arm.

_'Wait... its presence isn't gone yet!'_ Touma turned around, and surely enough, the flames had not died out, but gathered once again behind him.

Innocentius started to gather fire with its right hand. The fire then formed a giant yellow cross. It then swung the cross towards Touma.

Touma instinctively raised his right arm to block the attack.

The attack however did not fade away, or shatter. Rather, it remained as if his right arm wasn't there. Due to the current situation, the attack was actually giving off a solid weight, making it more difficult to maintain his current position.

_'My right hand isn't working... no, the flame is regenerating as soon as it's gets canceled!'_

"Rune."

Touma turned his head around, it was Index's voice. But it wasn't quite the same, "A 24-letter alphabet that indicates 'secret', 'mystique.' A magical language used by the Germanic people starting in the 2nd Century AD."

_'Index?'_

Index's eyes were unfocused as if she wasn't in control – or rather, it was if she was speaking like some sort of robot.

The eyes of Index, shifted to look at Touma's eyes. "A potential keeper has been found... further scans reveal that the potential keeper has a unique 'ability.'"

"Potential keeper?" Stiyl said bewildered as he looked at Touma.

"Sending related information about magic to assist keeper." A light started to gather from Index's back. The light formed multiple red feathers that accounted to a total of 250 feathers.

Stiyl however, grinned and just watched the events unfold.

The feathers floated directly towards Touma's head. As soon as the feathers made contact with his head, a torrent of information was downloaded directly onto his brain. At the same time, Innocentius was repelled by a white barrier.

_'She's sending information directly into my head?'_ Huge pain suddenly coursed through his head. Information was being downloaded directly into his brain that it was threatening to overload it. Information written in Hebrew, English, Japanese, Latin, and German began to appear in his mind as he began to unknowingly understand the said languages and the information contained written on those languages. He collapsed to his knees at the pain. _'Ugh... this pain! Make it stop!'_

His right hand made to clutch his head. As soon as the hand made contact with his head, the pain suddenly disappeared and the information began to reorganize itself within his head. The barrier surrounding him had also disappeared.

Touma's eyes turned unfocused as he began to recite from the information that was downloaded into his brain. "The roots of the spell is Old English. Attacking Innocentius is ineffective. Walls, floors, ceilings. As long as the runic marking in the area aren't erased, it will rekindle itself endless times."

"He – got the information downloaded into his head, and _survived_?" Stiyl said in shock. He was sure that such an exchange would have killed the boy! No one had ever survived such an exchange before!

Touma's eyes returned focus once again, "...so that means, all I have to do is destroy the runes!"

Innocentius used its weapon to attack Touma once again, Touma merely raised his right arm to guard the attack.

"To completely erase all the runes placed in this building, is an impossible task for you!" Stiyl interjected. Stiyl started to gather flames within his palms once again, "_Ashes to ashes, dust to dust! Squemish Bloody..."_

Touma yelled a code over Stiyl's casting. _'I don't know if it'll work, but this is the only thing I can rely on right now!'_

Stiyl's eyes widened as his flames started to produce thick black smoke. _'Spell intercept?'_

Taking advantage of the confusion, Touma parried the attack of Innocentius and headed down the stairs. He needed to find the runes, and the runes was definitely not at the floor his room was in.

Touma stopped at his tracks once he reached the ground floor. _''What was all that a while ago? Was that Index's knowledge on magic?'_

Touma scanned his mind, roughly, he could make out about 250 books. _'So each feather equated to one book... but that process should have killed me if I understood the magician's expression correctly– after all he didn't try to intervene and rather, watched it with amusement.'_

He then took out his cellphone. He hesitated for a moment. A kid like him shouldn't deal with these kind of situations. This was suppose to be the responsibilities of the adults around him. But how many times had he intervened for the safety of someone he didn't know in a city that was the most technologically advanced in the whole world? The adults that students like him should rely on were always late or didn't pay heed to things going around them. His thoughts then returned to the parting words of Index, _'Are you willing to accompany me to the depths of hell?'_

Touma slammed his left fist onto the wall. _'Who the heck would do that to someone whom he just met?'_

He then noticed that his fist had slammed into some sort of paper. Looking at it, there were similar papers all over the wall. It was the runes.

_'If I'm right, this is placed all over the building... wait is this made by photocopying?' _Touma would have laughed at how the magician created the runes, if the situation wasn't so serious.

Just as he formed a plan of action, flame began to appear from the stairs that he used to reach the floor.

* * *

><p>Stiyl was waiting patiently. Soon enough, he felt silence within the building.<p>

_'It's over.'_

Just as he turned around to retrieve Index, the sprinklers went off.

_'Probably Innocentius triggered it.'_ He thought unconcerned. After all magical flame isn't easily doused, let alone a fire summon.

As he walked towards Index, a bell rung, signifying the arrival of someone from the elevator.

It was Kamijou Touma.

Touma slowly walked over to the magician. He stopped and let his hands go through his hair. "You really had me. I'd have to go through an alternate plan if you actually engraved the runes with a knife or something."

"Impossible! Innocentius is a block of 3000 Degrees Celsius fire!" Stiyl said smugly. "You can't take it out with this small amount of water!"

"Idiot. Not the fire... But what you spammed all over my dormitory."

Stiyl glared at Touma. "Innocentius!"

The summon appeared once again behind Touma.

Stiyl started laughing triumphantly, "Amazing isn't it? But you lack experience." He then closed his eyes and muttered, "Kill him."

Innocentius lunged towards Touma and engulfed him with its flames.

Just as Stiyl was going to turn around and declare this his victory, the sound of shattering glass reached his ear.

Looking towards Innocentius, he was shocked to find that his summon had been destroyed.

"Water can't destroy papers that easily!" Stiyl said in shock as he took a step back.

"Ink. The paper may not have been destroyed." Touma said as he dispelled the summon. "But the ink would have been ruined."

Taking a step back, he called out desperately, "Innocentius! Innocentius!"

Nothing came.

"Now then..." Touma started to walk towards the magician. His steps making a defined sound due to the water.

Stiyl, in a last ditch effort, started to cast a spell once again, "Ashes to Ashes..."

Touma, having had enough of this magician, started running towards Stiyl.

"...dust to dust..." Stiyl's eyes widened as he realized he could not hope to finish his spell in time.

_'That's right...' _Touma thought as he cocked his right fist back. _'If I don't want to accompany her to hell, I'll just have to bring her out of it!'_ Touma slammed his fist towards the magician's face, instantly knocking the magician out.

Seeing no further movement from the magician, he headed towards Index.

* * *

><p>Touma placed Index into one of the benches near his dormitory.<p>

Anti-skill and the fire department had just arrived. Since Index wasn't a legal inhabitant of Academy City, he couldn't allow her to be seen by the authorities.

Looking over at the unconscious girl before him, he needed to take her to the hospital. _'But I don't think she has an ID card for this place. If she goes to the hospital, the information about her will be leaked away.'_

Touma sighed, "But I can't just leave her alone, either."

"Touma?" It was Index. She had regained consciousness but seemed to be in a huge amount of pain. "What's wrong? You don't look so well."

"Quit worrying about others!" Touma scolded lightly. "We need to do something about your wound or..."

"It's okay." She said with a pain filled smile. "If we can stop the bleeding then..."

Index began to sway over, but Touma immediately caught her.

"Aren't there any books with healing magic among the 103,000 grimoires you hold?" Touma asked.

"There is..."

"And that..." If he can cast the magic then surely...!

"You can't use it." Index interrupted.

_'What?'_

"Even if I told you the spell, and if you were to completely mimic it your power... will interfere in the end..."

"No... not again..." Touma said while looking over at his right hand. Imagicians of people on his hometown that had called him the plague flashed within his mind. "My right hand is the one to blame again?"

"It's not your right hand, but it's that you're an esper..." Index explained while struggling to maintain her consciousness. "Espers produces some sort of energy that reacts violently with mana."

"So that means all the people that have entered the power development program..." Touma trailed off.

"Yes. They can't use magic."

"Well... I haven't gone through the power development program!" Touma said regaining some form of hope.

"What... do you mean?"

"I'm only considered a level 0 but I've never gone through the power development program as my right hand's ability was with me from the day I was born!" Touma explained. "So surely I'll be able to do it! And this energy that espers produce, I know that I don't have it coursing through me!"

"Are you sure about it? If you make even a tiny mistake, a non-magician like yourself would be injured severely."

"Don't worry about me," Touma reassured her. "Just tell me exactly what to do."

"Okay." Index closed her eyes as she searched through the thousands of books within her head. One that someone could do with only one hand and that his right hand would have the least effect on. She placed one of her fingers at her open wound, and pulled Touma's left hand. She then started draw a magic circle at the the back of his left hand using her blood "Place that left hand over my open wound."

Touma complied and carefully placed his left hand over Index's wound.

Index winced but continued, "Make sure your right hand is not touching my body, the hand that's placed on my wound, or the ground. Your Imagine Breaker would no doubt negate the magic that will course through you and me if that were to happen."

Touma nodded once again complying with the instructions.

"Okay, I'll start singing a verse, and you mimic it. As soon as we have repeated the verse once, imagine the place of my wound as if it was never there to begin with. " Index instructed as she began to sing.

Touma quickly mimicked it and closed his eyes to imagine the wound to be gone. He would have probably be unable to imagine it if he hadn't touched Index's clothing earlier.

_'Enough about that... now's not the time.' _Touma thought. Berating himself for thinking of such an embarrassing incident at a time like this.

A bright white light started to encircle there position. The light soon enveloped them giving off a warm pulse, Touma however was beginning to struggle on maintaining the spell. But he had to persevere.

As soon as Index stopped singing, Touma immediately stopped.

_'Did it work?'_ Touma then noticed that the wound where he placed his left hand had already closed. The magic circle that Index had drawn at the back of left hand had also faded away. "It worked!"

Index however, was already unconscious.

Feeling for a pulse, he was relieved to find that she was just asleep.

_'It's no longer safe to stay here now that magic has been cast.' _Touma thought as he placed Index on his back and headed to the one place he knew that would help him in the problem that he was in and could keep a secret.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Thus ends Chapter 2.

Regarding the 250 feathers or 'information' that was embedded into Touma's mind, it's only general knowledge. The reason he knew how to do spell intercept was because Index had sent him, along with the general knowledge of magic, specific information on how to fight Stiyl. This part in particular will be playing a key role on later events. This does not mean in any way that he would suddenly become a Magician. He's only more knowledgeable, but is still considered an 'amateur' in magic, mainly due to his lack of experience.

You can pretty much tell that I modified the version of the spell that Komoe performed on Index to work well with Touma's condition. About Spell Intercept... Since I don't know how Spell Intercept works (like what the letters actually meant), I did not explicitly state what Touma said when he did the spell intercept.

I've edited chapter 1 since some people pointed out several mistakes. If you've notice an error, be it grammatical or wrong information (except the ones that I had purposely changed) then please let me know through reviews. As for present and past tenses... I'm still working on that.


	3. Necessarius

As Touma brought the unconscious Index towards the direction of the person he knew that could keep a secret, his body began to feel sluggish.

_'Wha-What's happening?'_ Touma thought. Ever since he had healed Index's wound, it seemed like one of his senses were inactive. It felt like he had suddenly gotten blind despite the fact that he could still see with his own two eyes. His body had also began to feel really weak, and Index was beginning to feel heavier by the second. _'My body feels so weak, and it feels like I've got blinded...'_

He then noticed that something wet was drenching his t-shirt. Glancing at it, there was blood dripping from Index.

_'The wound had reopened?'_ Touma thought frantically as he forced himself to go even faster than his current pace. _'Damn it! My right hand probably intervened again! Can all this right hand do is bring misfortune!'_

* * *

><p>The door swung open, revealing his diminutive teacher wearing, what appeared to be a pink hooded pajamas.<p>

"Kamijou-chan!" She said in surprise. "Did you start working as a newspaper salesman?"

"Would a newspaper salesman bring a sister on his back?" Touma asked dryly. "I'm currently in a lot of trouble, so I'm coming in sensei." He then entered despite his teacher's protests.

He noticed that there were a lot of beer cans strewn all over the room, several books and cigarettes were also littered all over the floor. It was a mess to be more exact. His sensei seemed to be frantically trying to clean it up.

"I know it's weird to be saying this right now..." She said while frantically cleaning the room. "Do you dislike women that smoke?"

Touma however, didn't pay attention to her as he placed Index on the floor. This action made Komoe gasp as she noticed the wound on Index's back.

"Wh-what happened there?"

"Sensei I need your help..." Touma stopped as Index began to glow, her eyes flashing open. "Index!"

"Warning, Chapter 2, Stanza 6. The loss of vital energy due to blood loss has surpassed the safety level, forcing reboot in John's Pen's mode." Index said in the same emotionless and mechanical voice that she used when she spoke to him when he fought Stiyl Magnus. "In the present state, according to the international standard time shown on the clock tower in London, body will lose the minimum vital power necessary to maintain life in thirty minutes and perish. I would be very grateful to you if you could follow my instructions and apply adequate treatment."

"Sensei, please listen to what she has to say." Touma said urgently. "Anyway, just make sure she doesn't lose consciousness! As you can see this girl is religious, please take care of her." Seeing his sensei nod, he crouched down towards Index, "Index, Is there anything I can do?"

"No. The best option for you to take right now... is to leave... if you remain in this room the recovery magic that will be performed will be erased merely by the presence of your right hand."

"Damn it... my right hand..." Touma muttered angrily as he stared at his clenched right hand.

"Kamijou-chan, the sister said something about magic..."

Touma stood up and headed out of the door. "Sensei, please take care of her." Once he was out of the building, he ran.

He had no destination in mind.

The words of Index had reopened some old wounds which he thought he had put behind him. His conflicted feelings regarding the power of his right hand completely masking the sluggishness he had felt moments earlier.

Once he reached a park bench he collapsed onto it. _'Is the only thing that my right hand good for is bringing misfortune?'_ He then closed his eyes, immediately falling unconscious.

* * *

><p><em>Tsukuyomi Komoe's Room<em>

"What is the current local time... in Japan Standard Time?" Index asked bringing Komoe out of her thoughts. "And the date, please."

"July 20th, 8:30PM." Komoe said.

"I notice you did not consult a clock. Is that time accurate?"

"I don't have a clock in this room." Komoe replied. "Sensei's internal clock goes by the second, so that should be accurate. I can adjust my internal body clock with a stable diet and exercise pattern."

Index looked over at the open window. "From the position of the stars and the angle of the moon it matches the direction of Sirius with an error of 0.038... then, to confirm: the current local time in Japan Standard Time is July 20th, 8:30PM, correct?"

"Yes, we're at the 53 second mark, to be exact." She noticed that Index sitting up. "N-no, you shouldn't get up!"

"Do not worry, regeneration is possible." Index stood up and walked over to the table next to the futon. Clearing it of its contents she began to draw on it using her own blood while muttering, "The end of Cancer, the period is midnight between 8 to 12. Bearing is to the West. The guardian of Undine. The angel is Helheim."

"What's... that?" Komoe asked hesitantly.

"Magic." Index replied. "I will need to borrow your hand and body from this part on. If you follow my instructions, no misfortune shall befall anyone here, and you shall have no need to bear a grudge against anyone."

"J – Just lie down, while I go call the ambulance!" She said urgently, crawling over to the phone.

"I do not know what 'ambulance' means, but will that be able to completely tend to my wounds in the next few minutes and replenish a sufficient amount of vital energy, mana, to my body?"

This made Komoe stop. "Then, what should I do? Sensei isn't a magical girl, you know?"

"I am grateful for your cooperation." She then coughed out blood. "First, what is that black object over there?"

Komoe picked it up. "This is a memory card for video games."

"Please put that in the middle of the table."

Komoe complied. Looking over at the table, it seemed to be modeling the current state of the room. "Is this a miniature model of this room?"

"The materials do not matter. If the shapes and roles fit, then the ritual can be carried out." Index then tossed several buttons towards the table.

"This is?"

"The location of your beer cans." She replied. "In any case, I would be rather grateful if you followed my instructions accurately. If you commit a mistake in the process, there is a possibility your nervous system will be burnt out. Failure entails the destruction and death of your body... is what I'm telling you..." This made Komoe straighten. "I will descend the angel and create a temple. Repeat after me." Index closed her eyes, and started to sing.

Komoe placed her hands together and mimicked her.

The room began to shake as the various pieces began to link with its real life counterpart. Komoe, noticing this was startled and accidentally kicked the table, shaking the entire room.

"Link successful."

"Link?"

"The temple created atop this table has been successfully linked to this room." Index explained. "What happens in this room will also occur on the table." Pausing for a moment she continued. "Please image it. A golden angel. Its physique is that of a child's. It possesses two wings. Image the sight of this beautiful angel."

"Having think of an angel out of the blue is kind of..." Komoe trailed off as she noticed that she was beginning to sink onto the floor and the space around her was distorting.

"We are not actually summoning an angel. As the magician, you must use your will to create the form of an angel."

"O-okay!" Closing her eyes she began to chant '_a cute angel'_ within her mind. Once she felt that the room was no longer distorting, she opened her eyes and noticed an angel was floating above the table. "I summoned an angel?" As she said this the angel dispersed into lights.

"Fixation of form has failed." Index said. "At the very least, a blue-colored Undine to protect the temple shall suffice. Let's proceed." Seeing Komoe nod, she began to sing the tune.

Komoe proceeded to chant _'a cute angel.'_ Looking over at Index, she was still singing the tune. Komoe took this as a sign to continue and closed her eyes once again.

After a few moments, Index spoke. "I have confirmed the avoidance of life endangerment. John's Pen will now enter sleep mode." Index sighed and began to sway over, until Komoe caught her.

"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

"All that's needed to heal me is my own stamina. The wound itself has been treated, so I will be fine." Her voice oddly different from the one earlier. "Thank God that he doesn't need to shoulder this."

"Shoulder?"

"If I had died here, he might have needed to shoulder this."

"You were worried about Kamijou-chan more than yourself?" Komoe asked surprised.

"I don't know." Index said. "I'm not really sure... but..."

Komoe never got to hear anymore as Index had fallen asleep.

* * *

><p><em>This had to be the worst day ever.<em>

_He had just failed the system scan, the second consecutive time, and a bunch of guys that made him look like a gang leader, kept following wherever he went. It didn't help that he didn't have enough money to feed himself for the day._

_His patience had finally reached the boiling point as every time he tried to enter a convenience store, he would be kicked out just from the mere impression that he was some delinquent that was out to rob a store._

_'This had gone far enough!' Touma dashed towards the one place he thought, that had the power to stop the said men from following him._

* * *

><p>Touma woke up with a start. After calming down, he realized he had fallen asleep at a park bench.<p>

The dream had reminded him of his past self. He had usually bottled up all the frustration he had with the world within himself. That day, when he had gone to recklessly challenge the leader of Skill Out had to be one of the most dumbest things he had ever done. Looking back now, he even wondered what gave him the idea that challenging the said giant would relieve him of his problem.

_'I'm an idiot...'_ Touma thought. Looking around, he no longer felt the _blindness_ he had felt last night.

"What happened to you? Did you get locked out of your dorm or something?" Came the voice of a girl behind him.

_'This feeling... damn it's Biribiri...'_ Touma sat up and yawned. "A lot of things happened last night, so I got tired and fell asleep on this bench." He replied as the events of the night before came flooding in. '_Ah! Last night! Index!'_

"Anyway, are you ready for our match now?" Mikoto asked, electricity starting to spark around her. She then noticed that he was already running away from her. "Hey! Wait!"

Touma however, was too worried for what had become of Index.

* * *

><p>"And why is it... that the big beer drinker and smoker, the mature Komoe-sensei's, pajamas fit you perfectly?" Touma asked blandly at the fact that Index was wearing the pajamas that Komoe wore last night. "Its like, how many years apart are you two?"<p>

"Don't snub me like that." Index said as Komoe nodded at this. "I do feel that my chest feels restricted in these pajamas." Komoe kept nodding until the words that Index had said sunk in, she then turned around in shock.

"Y-your comment is insulting!"

"Eh? But..."

"But what?"

"Nothing~" Index said teasingly.

"I am an adult you know!"

Touma sighed at their interaction.

"Anyway, Kamijou-chan!" Komoe said. "Who is this girl to you?"

"Uh... She's – She's my little sister..." Touma said as he looked away.

Komoe apparently did not believe it for a second as she puffed her face angrily. "Kamijou-chan..."

Touma immediately fell into the ground and bowed his head while repeatedly saying, "Sorry! Sorry! I lied! Sorry! Sorry!"

"She's a foreigner, a beautiful foreigner with blue hair and green eyes!"

"Umm... Sensei, can I ask something?" Touma said raising his hand as if asking a question in a classroom setting.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to tell the executive board of Academy City about her?" Touma asked.

"Of course. I don't know what kind of trouble you two are in, but whatever it is, since it took place inside the city, it is an adult's job to take care of the problem."

_'Adult's duty? How many times have I placed myself in danger in a situation that adults should have intervened?'_ Touma thought bitterly.

"If I know that you two are treading on dangerous ground," Komoe said facing Touma with a pleading expression, "I am not stupid enough to just stand by and do nothing."

_'If only all the adults were like that...'_ Touma thought wistfully. "If you were a complete stranger, I wouldn't mind involving you, but I owe you a favor, Sensei. So I don't want to get you involved."

Komoe blushed at this. "Saying something cool like that and trying to cover things up will not make Sensei forgive you." She then stood up and started to walk towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"This is a suspension of negotiations." Komoe replied. "Sensei will now go to the supermarket to buy materials to make breakfast. In the meantime, Kamijou-chan you think about how and what you should tell me, okay? And..."

"And?"

"When sensei gets into shopping too much, she might forget about everything." Komoe said facing the door. "When she gets back, Kamijou-chan, you shouldn't try to play tricks and should tell her first thing, okay?" She then walked out of the room.

Once she went out, Touma lied down on the floor.

"She's a wonderful person."

"You mean, Komoe-sensei?" Touma asked.

"Yeah." Index nodded.

"I can't get sensei any deeper into this."

"Yes. We can't let her get use any more magic." Index said as she pulled back the hood of the pajamas she was wearing. "Grimoires are dangerous things,with the contrasting wisdom and the altered laws written in them. A 'different world' like that is poisonous for 'this world', regardless of good and evil."

Touma sat up at this, "Poisonous?"

Index nodded, "Without mentioning magicians, if people of 'this world' come in touch with knowledge of a 'different world', their brains will be destroyed just because of that.'

"Destroyed? Is that what magic is like?" Touma asked, the information that was embedded into his mind yesterday made him pay more attention.

"Do you want to know?" Index asked solemnly, "Do you really want to know the burden I am carrying?" Her posture seemed to say that she was begging him to listen.

Approaching her, he said, "What should I say? It's like I'm the Father now."

"Yes, you truly are like a Father listening to a confession." She said with a light blush.

Touma wasn't sure what the blush on Index face meant, but he assumed it was because of the fever that Index still had.

"The Christians were originally all united as one, but why do you think they have split up into so many different churches?" Index asked as she lied down on the bed.

"Politics right?"

"Yes. They split, opposed each other, and chose various paths of their own... even though they all believed in the same God. All of them have evolved in their own way and gained their own 'personality'."

"Personality, eh?"

"The English Anglican Church that I belong to." Index paused for a moment, unsure on how to continue. "Since England is a country of magic, witch hunts and inquisitions, this kind of anti-magician culture developed in extraordinary manners."

While she was explaining, Touma placed a wet towel on her forehead.

"That is why the English Anglican Church has a special division. In order to defeat magicians, this division has researched magic and devised strategies against them. It is called the church of necessary evil, 'Necessarius'."

"Is that the organization your part of?"

"Yes. In order to understand an impure enemy, our own hearts will also become impure. Coming in contact with an impure enemy, our body will become impure. It is a division that gathers all the impurities in one spot. And the greatest impurity of all is-"

"Those 103,000 grimoires..." Touma finished for Index.

"Yes. Magic is like a formula. If one can successfully reverse engineer it, one can even neutralize an adversary's attack."

_'Isn't that what I did yesterday?'_ Touma thought.

"If one knows all the magic in the world, one will be able to neutralize all the magic in the world. So the 103,000 grimoires were-"

"-hammered into your brain." His tone hard.

Index nodded.

"If these were really that dangerous, why didn't they destroy it?"

"What's important isn't the book itself but the content. Even if the original is destroyed, it would be meaningless if it were passed down through oral tradition. Besides, humans are unable to destroy the originals."

"Eh?"

"The human mind is unable to, to be exact. They had not choice but to seal them off because they couldn't do anything."

"In other words, people are after the bomb implanted inside your head, right?" His arms shaking in anger.

"With these 103,000 grimoires, one can absolutely be able to distort the entire world."

"You... why did you keep all this to yourself this whole time?" Touma demanded.

Index hid under the blankets, "I didn't think you'd believe me and I didn't want to scare you... and... I... I didn't want you to hate me..."

"Whatever! You're dissing me here already! Church of necessary evil, Necessarius? 103,000 grimoires? It really does sound like bullshit, and hearing all this would be really hard for someone to believe..." Touma took a calming breath. "But you know. That's all there is to it, right?" Seeing Index sit up, he continued. "Don't misunderstand me. Just because you memorized 103,000 books, do you think I'd consider you disgusting? Have some faith in me!" Turning to face her, "Don't be judging people on your own!"

_'Wait... what did I do?'_ Touma thought as he noticed Index was in the verge of tears. Deciding to ease her fears, he flicked her on the forehead with his right hand. "See? I've got my right hand. I may not be able to cast magic properly but with my right hand, magicians are no match for me."

"But, you said you needed to go to school for extra lessons."

"Did I?"

"You definitely did."

"F-forget school!"

"So why did you say you had to go to school?" She asked. "That you had plans." Noticing him not looking at her she asked, "My presence made you feel uncomfortable, huh?" She crawled to him, "Makes you feel uncomfortable?" Seeing Touma look away. Frustrated, she bared her teeth out.

And bit him.

* * *

><p>When Komoe had returned from the supermarket she not asked about the circumstances regarding Index. Maybe she had forgotten it while she was shopping or maybe she chose to forget it. Touma however, didn't ask.<p>

It took three whole days for Index's fever to subside. Since Index wasn't a legal inhabitant of Academy City, Touma and Komoe had to be the ones to treat her fever.

During the times that he wasn't taking care of Index, he was doing homework that Komoe-sensei assigned him.

It was the third day ever since the first day they stayed at Tsukuyomi Komoe's apartment building. Touma was sleeping by the table, next to the futon that Index was sleeping at. He was currently wearing an orange t-shirt and black shorts that he took from his dormitory room.

"Uwaa!" Touma awoke with a start. His breathing labored, "It looked so real... an angel descending upon the house in the sea... I was chased around by those Aztec death gods... and then... summer ended with my homework shredded to pieces by some sort of magician..." Touma started to scratch the back of his head. "Could that be my future?"

"Touma."

Touma turned around and found that Index had already woke up.

"What is it?"

"It's already noon and breakfast isn't ready yet!" She complained.

Sighing to himself, he began to make breakfast.

* * *

><p><em>On the rooftops <em>

"She's alive." Stiyl Magnus said to his partner, as he put down the binoculars he was using.

"I've researched the background of the teenager accompanying her." Stiyl's partner was a Japanese woman that carried a nodachi.

"So what's up with his right hand?" He inquired.

"To say the least, he's not a magician or an esper." She replied.

"Now what? Don't tell me he's just a normal high-schooler?" Stiyl said as he began to light his cigarette. "Give me a break. This world wasn't created easy enough for some amateur with no powers to be able to dispatch Innocentius. Let alone survive a transfer of knowledge from Index."

"That is true." She agreed. "His battle ability is pretty high, though only in street terms as he has no professional training. His battle abilities aside, he has high grades in all academic areas except for anything esper related."

"Perhaps there's an intentional blackout on his information?" Stiyl proposed at the lack of solid information. "And Index's wound was apparently healed through magic."

It was a moment later when Stiyl spoke once again.

"Kanzaki, do other magic societies exist in this Far East?" Stiyl inquired from his partner.

"If they were moving inside this Academy City, some should be detected by the institution's antennae." The woman called Kanzaki closed her eyes, "Enemy forces are unknown. We have no backup."

"She seems really happy." Stiyl suddenly blurted out. The statement startled his partner. "She really does... she's been leading a happy life." He paused for a moment and muttered. "How much longer do we have to keep tearing and ripping that up?"

"Is it a perplexing emotion for you?" Kanzaki asked. "You, who have been in that place in the past."

"It's the same as always."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<br>**I have no intentions of making Touma a competent magician or even a magician at all. The main difference from the Touma of canon, is the fact that he can perform magic, albeit with a lot more limitations than a normal person. The limitations will be explained further in future chapters (if it isn't quite clear yet).

The reason that I've done this change is so to prepare for future changes in my own original arcs and also in To Aru arcs.

As usual, if someone points out something during the reviews, I will edit this chapter if it is indeed something that needs to be corrected (I have a tendency on ignoring certain details).

Next chapter will come out in one to two weeks time.


	4. Perfect Memorization

Touma and Index were heading towards the Public Bath. At the mere mention of it, had Index jumping up and down like a kid going to an amusement park. He guessed it was because there wasn't anything like it from where she came from.

As soon as they borrowed some clothing from Komoe-sensei for Index to wear, they headed to the public bath.

* * *

><p>Index was humming a happy tune as they walked towards the public bath.<p>

Touma had picked up a change of clothing and towel for himself. Index was borrowing clothing from Komoe-sensei as they had proven to be of similar size.

"Are you that happy?" Touma inquired. "We're just going for a bath."

"Yup!" She then faced him and started to swing her hands around in the air, "Touma, Touma, Komoe said a Japanese bath is like, soaking in the tub while enjoying a cup of milk tea with Fujiyama behind and small little ducks all over."

She had once again shown her ability to perfectly memorize things that she had heard or seen. Touma shook his head. "It seems a little bit too unbelievable don't you think? Don't you have any common sense despite having that super memory of yours?"

"Hmm? I've been in Japan for about a year." Index said.

"Is that so?"

"But the memories before that, are all gone."

This made Touma stop at his tracks. _'All of your memories before that... is gone?'_

Index continued, "When I regained consciousness I was all alone. I couldn't even remember my name. The only thing that ran in my mind was Index and magicians... I was afraid."

"So you probably don't know how you lost your memories." Touma stated more than asked, his tone hard.

"Yeah..." She then faced him. "Are you angry?"

"Eh? At who?" Touma feigned ignorance. He was angry... but not at Index.

"You! You are angry, your tone has changed!"

"I'm not angry. I have a good tolerance level." Which was true, since his life of misfortune had made his patience and tolerance higher than a normal person. If he didn't adapt, he would have snapped ages ago.

_'Now I understand. The reason she acted pretty weird in the last few days.' _Touma thought as he looked back at the three days they stayed at Komoe-sensei's house.

_'Touma, Touma.'_

_'What is it?' He asked._

_'Nothing.' She would reply. 'Even though there's nothing I need, I find it interesting to call just call your name.'_

_'To me those things are just normal boring stuff.'_ Touma thought. _'But to her... it's a whole new experience.'_

The mage that he had knocked unconscious a few days back flashed before his mind his fist clenching, he unconsciously blamed that said man for Index's predicament. "That bastard... If I can just punch him 30 more times!"

"So you really are angry." Index pointed out observing his body language.

"Yes! I am angry!" Touma yelled without thinking.

"Touma, you're a big jerk!" She said as she ran away.

_'Wait, did I say something bad?'_ Touma thought as he watched Index run away. He sighed, she didn't even know who the target of his anger was anyway.

As Index disappeared from his line of sight, he immediately noticed the lack of human presence around him. _'What the... there isn't anyone around... A rune?'_

"Index get back -"

"Stiyl has placed Opilia Runes all over the area."

Touma stopped and looked over at the voice.

A woman with long black hair and a nodachi with her had appeared.

"'One that cleanses God and exorcises demons huh?'" The woman said. "What a nice name."

"You -"

"I'm Kanzaki Kaori." The woman interrupted. "If possible, before I tell you my other name, can you hand over Index?"

Touma then remembered that the mage he had fought before said he had a parnter. _She's probably the partner of that magician and the one that wounded Index.'_

"What if I say no?" Touma said as he prepared himself for battle.

"Then I have no choice." She then drew her sword, as she did this a shockwave blew one of the air generators right behind him. The blade of the generator fell in the ground right behind Touma.

Touma took a nervous step back. That was completely different from what the other mage could do!

"I will ask again. I wish to take Index before I say my other name." Kanzaki said as she sheathed her sword once more.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Touma said as he tried to maintain his cool, though his legs were shaking against his own volition. "I have no reason to surrender to you!"

"I will repeat myself no matter how many times necessary." She said as she closed her eyes and prepared to unsheathe her sword. However, she didn't unsheathe it but three shock-waves started to head towards Touma's direction.

The shock-waves passed by him, completely missing him. _'Damn... I'm under her mercy if I can't even see where and how these attacks are coming... but one thing's for sure... It's not supernatural. I can't sense 'it'.'_

"The speed of the slash wreathed by Shichiten Shichitou, Nanasen, kills someone over seven times over a period we refer to as a 'split second.'" Kanzaki explained. "It isn't wrong to refer to the technique as Instant death."

"Damn..." Touma muttered under his breath. _'My right hand is useless in something like this... not to mention I still can't see a single attack. But... I can't give up.' _Touma clenched his right hand. _'No matter how you look at it, it's impossible for such an attack to be possible for a normal human. So if the magic isn't in the attack, could it mean that she's using magic to increase her physical strength?'_

Kanzaki, noticing Touma's movement, spoke, "I have received the reports from Stiyl. For some reason, your right hand can neutralize magic... but wouldn't that mean that as long as you don't touch it with your right hand, you wouldn't be able to do that?"

_'Now what... she already knows my plan of action.' _Touma thought as he desperately tried to find a way to beat the opponent before him. _'Leap straight to her without any thoughts?' _Clenching his fists, he started to run towards her.

"Nanasen." She muttered as three shock-waves began racing through the ground.

_'By calculating the distance apart from each shock-wave, once it reaches a certain distance away from the wielder, I can then use that to pass through that small gap!'_ Touma thought as he ran towards the shock-wave.

As soon as the visible shock-wave was about to reach him, he side stepped to the perceived blind-spot. Immediately he began to feel as if his whole body was being cut. _'I dodged it didn't I?' _Was the only thought that ran through his mind.

Touma collapsed onto all fours. He had several cuts around his body and he was breathing hard. As he checked his surroundings light was reflecting thin lines around the woman in front of him. _'Ultra-thin wires?'_

Touma attempted to stand up.

"I don't know why you're trying so hard, give up! You can't hope to win." Kanzaki said to him.

"You're using ultra-thin wires, for your Nanasen?" Touma asked.

"I already told you that I heard Stiyl's story." She said. Though she was honestly surprised that he figured it out that early.

"Then your nodachi is -"

"My Shichiten Shichitou is not an object for decoration." She interrupted. "What awaits you after going through Nanasen, is the truth, Yuisen. More importantly, I have yet to mention my magic name." She then closed her eyes, "Please don't make me mention it young man."

_'Does she want me to surrender?' _Touma clenched his hand. "Never."

"What did you say?"

"Shut up." Touma stood up, struggling to maintain his balance. "I said shut up, you emotionless bastard!"

Kanzaki's eyes narrowed as she muttered, "Nanasen."

Another shock-wave headed to Touma, but this time he maneuvered his body away from the shock-wave.

_'I knew it... she isn't trying to kill me.'_ Touma thought as he avoided the attack. He had predicted the direction that the attack would come from with the basis she wasn't trying to kill him. Had he been wrong, he would have been heavily injured or worse, killed.

Kanzaki dashed towards Touma and attempted to stab him using the scabbard of her nodachi. Touma, avoided the attack, but was immediately knocked to the ground by a follow up kick from Kanzaki.

Touma tried to stand up once again, but was stopped when Kanzaki placed her feet hard on his chest.

"Isn't this quite enough?" She asked as she walked away from him. She then looked at him straight in the eye. "I don't believe you have any reason to be fighting, this much for her."

"Why?" He asked as he struggled to breath. "Why aren't you killing me? If you wanted to you could have given me your 'instant death' anytime."

Touma brought himself to his knees once again, "Then you should know right? Chasing a little girl through the crowds... slashing her back with your nodachi... shouldn't be tolerated right? Did you know that she lost her memories because of you people? How badly did you chase her to make her lose even her memories?"

Touma looked at the ground pitifully. "I'm the kind of loser that always fights desperately – and yet I wasn't even able to protect a single girl... I'm powerless, that can only watch as you people take her away... but you're different aren't you? With the power that you have, you can protect whoever and whatever you want, you can save whoever and whatever you want... yet why is this the only action you're taking?"

"I'm not..." She said as she could no longer look Touma at the eye. "I'm not doing this because I want to... the organization I belong to is Necessariius..."

_'Necessarius?' _Touma thought. "But isn't that the same Church that Index belongs to?"

"She is my friend." Kanzaki admitted. "A very important friend..." She then faced him. "I didn't intend to slash her back either! I didn't... know that her Walking Church had been destroyed... I only slashed her knowing she wouldn't be injured. Yet..."

"Wait!" Touma said as he couldn't make sense of what she was saying. "Why did you even slashed your friend from behind in the first place?"

"If I don't secure her in that manner, she wouldn't be able to live." She replied. "Her perfect memorization ability... that is the reason behind all this."

"The grimoires... are you referring to her 103,000 grimoires?" Touma asked.

Kanzaki nodded.

"She said that they were all inputted into her brain..." Touma trailed off.

"The human's brain capacity is rather minimal." Kanzaki explained. "But, by forgetting unnecessary memories, one is unconsciously organizing their own brain. That's why humans are able to live. However... she can't do that."

"…" Touma remained silent. He had read about this after all. He was no means an expert regarding memories or the mind of a human, but he had read that perfect memorization can sometimes be a curse to those that had it.

"From the number of leaves on a tree she passed by, to the faces of everyone moving at rush hour or even the shape of every single drop of rain. Her brain fills up immediately with unnecessary information."

"Wait! Wait just a second!" Touma stood up, his confusion overriding the pain that his injuries are causing him. "If you're from the same organization, then why is Index calling you evil magicians? Or are you telling me that Index... lied to me?"

"She has not lied to you." Kanzaki replied. "The fact that we are all members of Necessarius nor the real reason why she's being chased... she doesn't remember any of this."

_'But the memories before that are all gone.'_ The words of Index earlier ago rang throughout Touma's mind.

"That is why she is forced to make her own judgment..." Kanzaki continued. "That it is logical to think the magicians after the 103,000 grimoires are from the Magic Cabal."

"But Index has perfect memorization, right?" Touma asked. "Why did she lose her memory from this past year in the first place?"

"She did not lose her memory... we erased it to be exact."

"Erased? With magic? But why?" Touma asked his mind in turmoil. "You were Index's friend aren't you? Wasn't Index an important friend of yours? Then why?"

"Because we had no choice but to erase her memories."

"Huh?"

"Because if we didn't... she would have died."

_'She would die?' _Touma thought, his mind conflicted.

"85% of her brain is allocated to the 103,000 grimoires." Kanzaki explained. "That is why she can only use 15% of a normal person's brain capacity. If information keeps flooding to the remaining 15%, her brain will..."

"Wait! That's not right! 85%? The human brain doesn't work that way! Or are you telling me that Index isn't human?" Touma demanded. "If that's indeed true to all who has perfect memorization, all the people who had that condition would have had their mind destroyed by 5 or 6 years old!"

"Are you telling me that the Church lied to us!" She said losing her composure for the first time during the encounter. She then took a calming breath. "Memory erasure takes place in exact one year periods." Kanzaki continued after calming down. "Memory erasure wouldn't be possible if it didn't occur at that exact moment... and there's only three more days left."

"Three days..." Touma said to himself.

"We have no intention of harming her." Kanzaki said. "Rather, no one is able to save her other than us. So I will ask again, can you hand her over to us before I mention my magic name? And by erasing her memory, she won't remember anything about you, no matter how much you think of her. Saving her brings you no benefit at all."

"This is wrong!" Touma shouted.

"Huh?"

"Like this has anything to do with whether she remembers me or not, or the fact that your information is wrong according to what I know..." Touma clenched his fists. "If you don't get it, then let me tell you why... it's because I'm Index's friend! I've always been her friend and always will be! Even if it isn't written in the Bible, at least this is true!"

"I knew something was weird." Touma continued. "If it's as simple as her forgetting things, all you need to do is explain everything and clear that misunderstanding. Why do you leave it as a misunderstanding? Why do you chase her as an enemy? How dare you just give up on her like that? What about her own feeling -"

"Shut up!" Kanzaki roared, her voice filled with fury. "Don't talk as if you knew what's going on! What do you think we went through all this time by taking away her memories? Apparently you see Stiyl as an enemy, but do you even know how he felt when he watched you two? Do you even know how much resolve he had when he presented himself as an enemy?"

Her voice quieted down, "Stiyl's feelings as he dishonors himself for the sake of saving his important friend... would someone like you have any clue?" She then dashed to him and made to kick his head.

Touma quickly reacted by ducking from the kick, but couldn't recover in time to dodge the follow up kick.

The kick knocked him to the ground once again, as he looked up the descending form of Kanzaki with her nodachi still sheathed was quickly coming down on him. "We did what we could do!"

Just as the nodachi was about to impact his head, he immediately rolled to the side and stood up.

"We did, I tell you!" She yelled as she made to hit him with her sword.

Touma, his energy drained due to his injuries, could no longer dodge the attacks that kept on coming.

"We spent all spring! All summer! All fall! All winter!" She said as she kept hitting Touma with her sword. She kept hitting him as she released everything that she had kept locked up within her stoic facade. "We created memories, and so that she didn't forget them, we made a single promise with her, and we gave her a diary and album for her to carry inside her heart!" She tried to stab the sheathed sword once again to Touma's head, but Touma moved his head in time to avoid it. She then stopped attacking, "... it didn't work... even when we went back and made more memories with her, no matter how many times we repeated that... memories of her family, friends and lovers... they were all erased."

"We couldn't handle it anymore." She continued her voice filled with pain. "We couldn't bear to see her smile anymore!"

"That's wrong." Touma gasped as he grasped the nodachi that was lodge onto the ground right next to his head. Using it to help himself up, he continued, "That's just your own messed up logic..."

Kanzaki's eyes widened at his declaration.

"You didn't think for Index's sake for a single moment!" Touma said as he slowly stood up. "Don't blame your weakness on Index! If you're so scared of seeing her lose one year's worth of memories... If you just give her more blessed memories the next year... If she knows there's happiness waiting for her the following year, to conquer her fear of losing this year's memories... then no one needs to run away anymore! Isn't that all there is to this?"

Touma then stood up at his own two feet, "Are you protecting protecting people just because you have power?" Without waiting for her to answer he continued, "No, right? That's not how it is right? You acquired power because you have something you want to protect, right?"

Kanzaki was beginning to falter at the words being uttered by the high school student before her.

"Why did you acquire power? Who did you want to protect with those hands?" Touma said his breathing getting more harsher as he tried to keep his consciousness. "Then what the hell are you doing here? With that much power, with such a versatile power, why... are you... so incompetent!" Clenching his fists once again, he knew he couldn't hope to defeat her. But if he could just deliver his message! Even if it was just for a moment, let his message, no let it at least shake up her delusions! He cocked his right hand back and delivered the strongest punch he could muster. "Then I'll shake up your illusions, here and now!" As his fist impacted Kanzaki's face, he blacked out as his injuries finally caught up to him.

Kanzaki stood there in silence. The fact that the boy had managed to brush his hands towards her face didn't even register to her as she thought back to how the boy shattered her will to fight with his words.

"All done?" The voice of Stiyl Magnus brought her out of her thoughts.

Without turning, she nodded.

"I see..."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Here's chapter 4 of Keeper.

Not much to say except that not much had changed in comparison to the manga and anime. The way he received most of his injuries in this part was mainly due to a miscalculation on how the attack actually worked. He had initially guessed that it was some sort of shock-wave, but due to the miscalculation, he had gotten more injuries had he stood in place. As for the fact that he didn't use magic despite knowing about it, he may have the information, but he's still hesitant on using it – the fact that Index mentioned a simple mistake could cause severe injuries to a non-magician was practically enough for him to refrain from using magic unless it's absolutely necessary.

The Index Arc would probably have little deviation from the original until near the end (even then it's quite minimal). The one that will have the most change would probably be the Kazakiri Hyouka Arc – not going to say much for now since I'm still writing this arc and revising the Sisters Arc.

Like usual, if there's any mistakes – be it grammatical or information wise, or something doesn't make sense at all – then place it in the reviews (as I've stated before, I tend to overlook small details or even big ones since I don't have a beta reader – and I'm a bit too lazy to look for one, with college and all). That's not to say, I don't want reviews that generally praises the work. A simple 'Great Job' could do wonders in my motivation to write – so please review if you happen to like the story. Again, no flames, please.

Next chapter would be out in 1 to 2 weeks.


	5. Limit

Touma awoke with a start. His eyes darted from left to right, and recognized the place as the one that he had been living in for the last three days. He quickly tried to sit up but his body was immediately wracked with pain.

"Touma! You shouldn't get up yet!" Index said worriedly, alerting him of her presence within the room.

Touma looked at the state of his body. He had bandages all over his body.

"The sun's in the sky... which means that a night had gone by..." Touma said as he looked over his injuries.

"Not a night, but three days." Index corrected.

_'Three days?'_ Immediately the image of Kanzaki Kaori flashed before his mind as the words she uttered repeated in his mind, _'There's only three more days left.'_

"Touma what's wrong?" Index said as she noticed Touma's troubled expression. "Does it hurt somewhere?"

"No." Touma replied. _'The fact that Index remembers me means that the memory erasure hadn't taken placed yet, and neither does Index seem any different.'_

"Everything's okay." Touma said in relief.

"No it isn't!" Index said worriedly drawing Touma's attention, "I didn't know of anything. Komoe said that you were lying unconscious in the middle of the road. Komoe was also the one that carried your beaten body back to the apartment... I didn't realize anything. I didn't think at all that you were fighting against other magicians. I... I couldn't save you."

Touma wanted to reassure her and give her a hug, but his body refused to move. _'Damn... I can't move... such misfortune...'_

They sat there, silent for a moment.

Somehow the words that Index had said made him feel incredibly guilty. He spoke in an attempt to change the subject, "What's with this ridiculous bandage wrapping?" He said as he brought his bandaged hand up and producing a stupid grin. "A bit much don't you think?"

Index looked curiously at the bandage that she wrapped herself. "I thought these were necessary to heal wounds." She said sheepishly. "It's not as reliable as magic, but..."

"You're right." Touma said, understanding what she meant. "It'll be fine even if you didn't use magic."

"Touma." Index said as brought her face right in front of Touma's. "Even after all this you still don't believe in magic? You're as stubborn as a person with a one sided love!"

"That's not what I meant." Touma said denying her accusation. "I mean, I've already cast magic once, so I definitely know it exists. If at all possible, I don't want to see the look on your face when you speak about magic." Touma said quietly as he recalled the Index that spoke to him when he fought against the mage Stiyl Magnus.

"I see." Index said, her expression turning solemn. "I woke up again?"

"Woke up?"

"I don't want to hear it if I woke up." Index admitted. "The voice I have when I'm unconscious is like talking in dreams... It's very embarrassing... Besides... it feels like I'm becoming a cold machine... and it scares me."

"Sorry." Touma apologized. He wanted to ask her about the feather that had came out of her forehead and placed knowledge into his head. Even now the information was still in his mind and he could remember every single detail as if the information was right in front of him. But since Index didn't like to talk about it, he didn't ask.

"Don't worry about it." She said as she stood up. "Idiot."

She walked over to the kitchen. "Want to eat something?"

One thing that Touma had learned from all the times that he fed Index was the fact that she didn't know how to use a chopstick. Now that she was in front of him, with a bowl of rice and chopsticks on her hand, was beginning to make him extremely nervous.

"Umm... Index...-san?" He said nervously at Index.

"I'm a Sister." Index declared, "so I know how to take care of a sick person, at least."

"W-well..." Knowing his luck, he knew this would end badly. "... please allow me think over this deeply, God..."

"Why? Not hungry?" Index said her face filled with determination.

Touma looked at Index fearfully as he felt impending misfortune.

"Ah!"

His luck didn't disappoint. Index's grip on the rice bowl, slipped and fell on his face.

Such misfortune.

As he began to clean the rice from his hair, the door bell rang.

"It's probably Komoe." Index said.

They then heard the voice of Komoe. "What are you doing in front of my home?"

_'Who was she talking too?'_

The door swung open. "Kamijou-chan! I'm not sure what's going on, but you have some guests."

The door fully opened to reveal Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori.

"You guys -" Touma stood up and immediately prepared himself for battle despite his current condition. "What are you doing here?"

"Hmm... You can't even run away with that body of yours." Stiyl pointed out.

Touma noticed what they were planning to do. _'I see... Index has been running away from these people on her own... but if she has to carry the burden of an injured person in me, then it's a different story... In order to efficiently and safely secure Index, they want to use me as...'_

"Go away!" Index said as she blocked the way to Touma. Touma however had no plans on staying still and have them take Index, he immediately walked over to Index, in an attempt to stop her. "I beg you, I'll go anywhere with you. I'll do anything for you. So please leave him alone... I beg of you. Please don't hurt Touma anymore!"

As she said this, she suddenly began to fall forward. Stiyl caught her before she reached the ground.

Stiyl placed the unconscious Index down at the futon set up within the room.

"Tonight, midnight." Stiyl said to Touma. "At that time the memory erasure will take place."

"Wa-Wait! Listen to me!" Touma interrupted. "That may be the only method you all have, but if it's science then there might be another way! This place is Academy City. There are techniques to modify memory and even an esper that can control memories... if I remember correctly, there's a level 5 Esper that can remove a person's memory just by touching them... if it works, then you won't have to rely on such a horrible method to erase her memories!"

Stiyl however, glared at him. "And if it doesn't work? Would you let those people that you mentioned use untested drugs on her?" Stiyl said darkly. "Would you let them experiment with Index just to find a way?"

This brought Touma up short.

"Look!" Stiyl said motioning the unconscious form of Index. "After seeing her like this, could you still say the same words to her?"

Touma gritted his teeth. If he putted it that way...

"Just a few more tests, so wait a little bit longer. Do you have the guts to say such a thing!" Stiyl then brought out a cross necklace. "This is a tool needed to erase Index's memory. If it's touched by your right hand, like my Innocentius, it would lose its power." He then brought it to his face. "If you're so confident on your method, then destroy it with your power."

Touma slowly brought his hands up to the cross, but stopped as soon as it was mere inches away from his hand.

"What's wrong?" He asked mockingly. "Hurry up and do it!"

Touma let his hands fall to his side.

* * *

><p>Touma was sitting outside of the room that Index was in. Unsure of what to do, what could he do? He was just a powerless, normal person.<p>

"Thank you..." Kanzaki said as she approached him. "...for not becoming a burden. It seems that you were able to safely protect her."

"So that's it..." Touma said dejectedly. "Why didn't you finish me off?"

Kanzaki looked over at the horizon. The sun was at its peek. "We have been looking for her for nearly a year and... you need time to say goodbye right?" She said to him.

_'Am I just going to let it end like this? I may be a normal person, but there must be something I can do!' _Touma stood up. Determination etched onto his face.

"What do you plan to do?" Kanzaki said noticing Touma's expression.

"If you still don't get it." Touma said as he walked away from her. "I'll teach you one thing: I have not given up on her yet."

Grabbing hold of his bandages, he removed the ones that was on his head and pulled it off. "If I fail 100 times then I'll just have to try 100 more times. If I fail 1000 times then I'll just have to try 1000 more times. It's the one thing that you people weren't able to do, but I'll show you that I can do it!"

"There's not much time left." Kanzaki said calmly. "But... I wish the best of luck for your efforts."

Touma glanced one more time at the room Index was in._ 'Wait for me... Index!'_

* * *

><p>Touma was walking aimlessly at a park near his high school.<p>

_'Index holds 103,000 grimoires within her mind and that takes 85% of her brain capacity...'_ Touma thought. _'But it doesn't make any sense... the brain categorizes memories into different types. What did Kanzaki mean by 85% of her brain and only 15% of her brain is only left for normal processes?'_

Touma banged his head at a nearby pole. _'Damn it! It doesn't make any sense at all! Unless Index isn't human, then a thing like that shouldn't be possible. And even if that were the case, everyone with perfect memorization would have died at the age of 5 or 6...'_ Touma took out some spare money he had left over from the tour of Academy City. He needed more verification before he returned to the house. _'I need to get my facts straight.'_

* * *

><p>Inserting some money into a phone booth, he dialed his teacher's phone number.<p>

His cellphone's battery had long died as he wasn't able to charge it at the three days he was unconscious.

"Komoe-sensei!" Touma said as soon as he heard the other side pick up.

"Kamijou-chan? Judging by the number, you're calling from somewhere outside of the house. Are you sure its okay for you to be walking about in your condition?"

"I need to verify some facts with you." He said urgently.

"What do you want to know?"

"Is it true that a human brain can hold up to about 140 years of memory even if a person has perfect memorization?" Touma asked.

"Yes."

"But what if you memorized... say memorized 100,000 books?"

"Kamijou-chan, isn't this your expertise?" Komoe said. "Shouldn't you know about it?"

"Please sensei! I just need to make sure that what I know is correct." Touma pleaded.

"Alright..." Touma heard Komoe sigh. "Human memory does not exist as one thing. Word Memory and Event Memory are just one of the few things that make up the human memory... in a sense it's like throwing different types of trash to the correct container. I mean, if a person was to lose their memory from some sort of shock, they wouldn't forget how to walk would they?"

"So that means, that even if a person was to memorize that many books..." Touma said. "There is never a need to erase all memories!"

* * *

><p>The door slammed open as Touma entered the room where Stiyl was going to perform the memory erasure ceremony.<p>

"Bastard! You still haven't had enough in getting in our way?" Stiyl said hotly.

"At least let me say my goodbye... to Index." Touma said quietly.

Kanzaki sighed. "Go ahead."

"Are you out of your mind?" Stiyl demanded. "He's the one that carries that strange power! There's no telling what he'll do if we take our eyes off of him!"

"He wouldn't do anything to hurt Index." Kanzaki said. "You knew that too, that's why you showed him the real cross, right?" She then walked past him. "I've probably overestimated you too much."

Stiyl soon followed. "You have 10 minutes! Got that!"

The door slammed shut as Stiyl exited.

Touma sat right next to Index, her pained expression making him feel a bit nervous.

_'Perfect Memorization could never kill Index...' _Touma thought as he watched the clock. There was only nine minutes left till midnight. _'That would mean that the church lied to Kanzaki and Stiyl... then why is Index in pain?'_

After thinking about it for a few seconds he came unto conclusion. _'The church probably modified Index's brain so that she would die if her memories weren't erased in one year periods. That way, Index would never betray them... that way, Index's friends will have to swallow their tears and obey them.' _Touma looked closely at Index. _'But what did the church do to her?'_

As he looked at his right hand, what Stiyl said earlier rang throughout his mind. _'If you're so confident with your method, then destroy it!'_

He approached Index. Removing the bandages over his hands, he then placed his right hand over Index's forehead, he waited until he felt the familiar feeling of his hand negating something.

For a whole minute his hand remained at her forehead.

_'Nothing's happening... so there's nothing supernatural.' _Touma thought. _'Is there a place I haven't touched yet?'_

Looking over Index's body, he began to blush at the concept of stripping Index just to find the source.

He glanced at Index's mouth. He hadn't checked there.

As he squinted to get a good look at Index's barely opened mouth, he noticed an odd looking rune inside her mouth.

_'Could that be it?' _Touma thought. He then slowly placed one of his fingers into her mouth.

Once his finger touched the rune, he was quickly blown to the wall of the house.

"Wha – What was that?" Touma's right hand had begun to bleed just from touching the rune inside Index. He looked over at Index's position.

She started to float ominously, an aura of power surrounding her.

_'I can feel 'it'... then that means!'_

Index slowly turned to face him. Her eyes, blank like when he fought with Stiyl, along with it, a red rune encircled her irises. She then charged at him.

Touma, not knowing what to do, placed his right arm in front of him.

A shock-wave rocked the house, shattering windows and blasting the door open.

"Chapter 3 Verse 2." Came the voice of the mechanized like voice of Index. "Confirmed the penetration of seals 1 to 3. Preparing to regenerate... Failure. Auto-regeneration could not be carried out."

Touma slowly stood up as he removed the books that had collapsed on him due to the shock-wave.

"Presently, in order to protect the library of 103,000 grimoires, prioritizing engaging with the intruder... Intruder identified: Keeper Kamijou Touma."

_'What?'_

"Reverse-engineering the magic formula that destroyed the barriers, based on the 103,000 grimoires... Failure. No applicable spells found."

Touma stood his ground, his right hand ready to block any magic coming his way.

"Forcing the disclosure of the spell's composition and constructing a weapon to change the status of Keeper from potential intruder to ally, by erasing Keeper's memories." The runes encircling Index's iris, expanded outwards, forming two overlapping runes in front of her. "Now initiating weapon, St. George's Sanctuary – limiting total output based on Keeper's ability. Preparing to incapacitate the Keeper."

The space in front of Index began to distort. Moments later, a bluish white beam headed straight to Touma.

He immediately placed his hand in front of him, having anticipated the attack.

_'Crap... this is bad. My right hand isn't canceling it! It's just like Innocentius... my right hand's canceling speed is being surpassed!' _Touma thought as he began to feel his right hand break at the attack.

"Dragon's Breath?" Came the voice of Kanzaki Kaori. "It can't be... she shouldn't be able to use magic!"

"What you're seeing is real!" Touma said to them. "Index is able to use magic! Your church had you believing in a lie to make things easier for them!"

_'My right hand won't last any longer...!' _He then looked over at the magicians. "Both of you! How long are you going to stand there and watch? She's been waiting... always! Index has been waiting for the day when she can finally laugh together with us again!"

His right hand, having reached its limit, was blown away from the beam. _'Damn...'_

"Salvare000!" Came the voice of Kaori as the tatami mats rose from the ground, making Index's position change and her attack aimed at the sky.

The attack had completely destroyed the roof of the apartment.

White feathers started to descend from the roof.

"Be careful!" Kanzaki said to him. "That's the aftereffect of Dragon's Breath! If you touch even one of them, it would be your end!"

"A new intruder has appeared." Index's robot like voice was heard once again. "Currently the incapacitation of Keeper Kamijou Touma takes priority."

A beam started to come again from Index, but this time a being made of flames shielded Touma.

"Innocentius?" Turning to the magician, Stiyl had produced rune cards and had placed them on the ground.

"It's not like I believe that nonsense that was coming out of your mouth, but if you're certain you can save her life, then I'll destroy anything that tries to get in your way!"

"Yeah, I know!" Touma said as he dashed towards Index.

"Go! Keeper!"

Time started to run slowly in Touma's mind's eye. His right hand, though broken, was outstretched once again. Index, the one that many had tried to save. With his right hand, the bringer of his misfortune, he'll save her!

_'If this world was created and runs on the system of God...' _Touma thought as he brought his hand to touch Index's forehead, _'Then I'll destroy that illusion!'_

As soon as Touma touched Index, the magic surrounding her and the attack that she was releasing, faded away. She then began to fall to the floor, but was caught in time by Touma.

"Index!" As he said this, he never noticed a white feather getting dangerously close to his head. His mind was too occupied at Index's safety.

Once the feather touched his head, he knew no more.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Thus ends another chapter...

Just a note to later arcs, this will be mostly be done from Touma's perspective. So some parts will be missing and some parts will be new.

As for his back story with Skill-Out (which I mentioned in the earlier chapters) won't become a major part of the plot until after the Academy City Invasion Arc (I think, this might change though).

As usual, reviews regarding slight or even big mistakes on grammar and/or information wise is acceptable. Reviews praising the work in general also helps me write more for this story.

The final chapter for the Index Arc will be out next week, after that, I'll have a small break from writing this work.


	6. Imagine Breaker

_August 2_

_To: Kamijou Touma_

_Salutations are useless so let me skip that._

"_You've really done it, you bastard." Is what I wanted to say, but if I really voiced out my personal emotions, even cutting down all the trees in the world wouldn't make enough paper for that purpose, so I'll refrain from that._

_As the least of courtesy I can show you for your assistance in all this, I'll explain the complete situation concerning you and her: The English Anglican Church wished to immediately take her back, but when asked for an explanation for lying to us, they suddenly decided to maintain the current status quo. I'm pretty sure it's more accurate to say they want to monitor developments regarding you and Index and your status as the 'Keeper.'_

_Me, personally, can't tolerate any second you're around her... by the way, this doesn't actually mean we're giving her to you. We will collect information and retrieve her once we have gathered the proper equipment._

_It's not my style to kill you in your sleep. So clean your neck and wait for us._

_P.S. Due to your actual status as a normal human that is able to cast magic, a watcher will be sent to monitor your movements in a few months. So until then, please avoid using magic._

_From: Stiyl Magnus_

* * *

><p>Index had just arrived back from London. She had gotten proper documents for her stay in Academy City. She had planned on going earlier, but the decision for giving her this amount of freedom was just recently given.<p>

The church had marked Touma as the new keeper of Index.

The last time that Index saw Touma, was when he was sent to the hospital after the 'Necklace Incident.' An incident where Touma had saved her life – an incident she was not conscious to witness.

The magicians that had pursued her, told her that she had to have her memories destroyed at a yearly cycle. Touma had apparently broken that cycle.

A frog faced doctor directed her to Touma's room, though she hesitated once she got in front of the door.

The doctor noticing her hesitation said, "What I want to say is that it'd be faster if you met the boy, but... it'd be rude to be shocked once you do see him."

Index looked questioningly at the doctor.

* * *

><p>Index knocked on the door.<p>

Hearing no response, she hesitated. If what the doctor had said was true... then maybe it would be better to leave him alone.

"Yes?" The muffled voice of Touma was heard from the door.

Opening it slowly, she found Touma looking out the open window.

He had bandages on his head and on his right arm. He was also wearing a hospital gown. Touma slowly turned towards Index. His eyes showing an indiscernible emotion.

"Touma." Index said relieved as she began to walk towards his bed.

"Umm..." This made Index stop at her tracks. "Did you come to the wrong room?"

The words of what the doctor said earlier returned to her.

_'That boy has had his memory destroyed. It isn't memory loss.'_

_'Memory destruction?' Index had asked._

_'He didn't forget his memories, but rather his brain cells regarding event memory, had been physically destroyed.' The doctor said, his expression solemn. 'I don't think he'd remember anything to begin with...' He sighed, 'Did they open up his head used a stun gun on him?'_

Index remembered the fleeting moment that she had seen when she regained her consciousness for a short amount of time. A white feather that had touched Touma's head before she fell unconscious once again.

"Umm..." This brought Index out of her reverie. "Are you okay? You seem to be in great pain."

The indiscernible expression was because he couldn't recognize her.

"No..." She said shaking her head and producing a shaky smile. "I'm okay... I'm definitely okay!" Though the words were more for her than the person in front of her.

"Umm... did we know each other by any chance?" The boy asked uncertainly.

"Touma, don't you remember?" Index asked her mind still trying grip the reality as she desperately tried to ignore the notion of him losing his memories, "We first met on the balcony of your student dormitory."

"I lived in a dormitory?"

"Touma, don't you remember?" She said. As tears started to well up in her eyes. "My Waking Church got destroyed by your right hand."

"What's... a Walking Church?" The boy asked. "Some sort of walking club?"

"Touma, don't you remember?" Her voice getting more shaky as she recounted the events that they went through together. "You fought against magicians for my sake."

"Whose name is Touma?"

"Touma... don't you remember? Index... Index loved you, Touma..." She said as she placed her hand on her chest. She struggled to maintain her tears, her voice increasingly shaky.

"Sorry, what's Index?" The boy said. "I'm sure it's not a person's name... did I have a pet cat or dog?"

A wind blew into the room. The curtains of the window blowing up for a moment before settling down.

She could no longer hold it in as the tears started to trickle down her cheeks.

"Just kidding!" Touma said a goofy grin on his face as he started laughing. "What are you getting all emotional for being called a cat or a dog?"

Index looked blankly at the boy before her.

"You must be that type." The boy said. "You like collars? Are you requesting me to do that kind of stuff?"

Index wiped her tears with her clothing. "Huh? Touma, weren't your memories destroyed? Didn't you forget your memories?"

"You're making it sound like it was better for me to have lost my memories." Touma replied casually.

"Huh, but..."

"That frog-faced doctor said that my brain cells got destroyed, right? That's why I _should _have lost my memories right?" Touma said.

"Should have?"

"See, the damage was caused by magic right?" Touma said. "Then by touching it with my Imagine Breaker," raising his bandaged right hand, "the effect got canceled."

"Imagine Breaker?" Index asked.

"That's what the doctor called my right hand." Touma said. "In other words, I just needed to nullify the magical damage with my hand."

Index collapsed to her feet, sighing in relief.

"And look at you," Touma said cheerfully, "For all the problems you caused to others this time, you can take a good look at yourself in the mirror right?"

Index started to shake. Anger permeating from her being.

Touma, noticing the shaking, started to sweat nervously. "Index...-san?"

A scream rang throughout the hospital.

* * *

><p>Index came out of the room shutting the door. Furious at Touma's idea of a joke.<p>

She had never noticed that his earlier expression was genuine.

The doctor, who came to visit Touma, entered his room and noticed bite marks on Touma's being.

"Wow... this is a mess." The doctor said.

"I was going to die... really." Touma said clutching the pillow that Index had bitten at when he attempted to shield himself.

The doctor sighed at his antics. "But... was that okay?"

Touma looked towards the doctor.

"You... really don't remember do you?" The doctor said. "I told you word for word what I heard from those two."

"I... I just didn't want to see that girl cry..." Touma said honestly. "That's what crossed my mind... I don't know what this emotion is, and I'm sure I won't ever remember anything." Looking up to the doctor, "But that's what crossed my mind. Perhaps, I still remember."

"Your memories are gone. And so is the brain cells involved with those memories." The doctor said grimly. "No event memories remain in your brain, or should, at least... if it's not in your head, then where are your memories?"

"That's easy." Touma said with a wistful smile. "My heart... that's where my memories are."

* * *

><p><em>London – St. George's Cathedral...<em>

Laura Stuart, the Archbishop of the English Anglican Church and Necessarius, was sitting patiently at one of the chairs inside the Church. She had been the one that permitted Index to return to Academy City.

She was currently waiting for a certain sister.

"An interesting development has taken place in Academy City~" She said to herself cheerfully as she looked over the files over a certain person.

The door to the Church opened revealing a nun dressed in the Anglican uniform. The nun stopped right in front of her. The said nun had long blonde hair that reached up to her waist, she was a bit shorter compared to Kanzaki Kaori, but she exuded a serious business-like aura.

"Archbishop." The nun said as she went down to her knees to show respect.

"Do you know what you're here for?" Laura asked. "Isir, Freya." Seeing her shake her head, she explained. "You will be assigned to watch and report about the unusual occurrence in Academy City."

"Are you talking about... the Keeper?"

"Yes. His existence alone is something that should warrant for a constant watcher... but with the development in the last month alone, we need to keep a closer watch on him." Laura answered.

"Is it because he survived the information transfer from the holder of 103,000 grimoires?" Freya asked.

The fact that an outsider had survived the information transfer from the holder of 103,000 grimoires spread like wildfire throughout the Anglican Church. The fact that Church had made no move to absorb the Keeper into the Anglican Church had left many bewildered.

"Yes. And the fact that he can cast magic, no matter how limited, has raised some questions if it is logical for an outsider to get a hold of Index." Laura took out a picture. "This is the picture of Kamijou Touma. After you have gone through sufficient training, we'll be sending you to Academy City... any questions?"

"If I may be blunt, Archbishop, but why me?" Freya asked. "An important task such as this should be left with someone like Kanzaki Kaori – if the reports are true regarding his ability."

"You underestimate your ability too much Freya." Laura walked over to the door. "And it's because of his said ability that I'm sending you."

* * *

><p><em>Academy City - The Windowless Building...<em>

"Stiyl Magnus."

Stiyl approached a giant cylindrical like container that had a person floating upside down from it.

"Every single person that comes here looks at how I am and reacts the same way." The person inside the container said. "There shouldn't be a need to let a human do something machines do, right?"

"Yes." Stiyl replied. "General Superintendent Aleister."

"I believe you already know the reason for being recalled from England." Aleister said. "The situation has become complicated."

"Deep Blood... correct?"

"Its existence is uncertain. A girl possessing the ability to kill a 'certain organism', whose existence is not even certain, is being imprisoned." Aleister said. "What has complicated matters is that you magicians, who shouldn't be within the city, have taken part in this."

"Magicians?"

"It is rather easy to terminate a magician or two." Aleister said as if talking about the weather. "That is not the problem. The issue is that we, the science side, will end up defeating the magicians. Because the science side and the magic side both hold their own exclusive technologies, the balance of the world exists. It is rather obvious what would happen if Academy City, which governs all espers, insists that it has defeated magicians, no?"

"I see." Stiyl said closing his eyes. "If I, a magician, take out someone from the magic side, no one would have a problem with that. Correct?"

"Hmm... And I also possess a natural enemy of magicians."

"Imagine Breaker... but is isn't it dangerous to use him?"

"There are no problems." Aleister said calmly. "He's not actually an esper. He hasn't gone through the power development program and his inside title in Academy City is that he's a level 0. He does not possess any valuable information. There are no fears that our information would be leaked by him accompanying you."

"You're telling me... to partner up with that kid?"

"He knows your technology and I assume your people is sending a watcher for him right?" Aleister said. "So if at all, he wouldn't leak any information or it would have made his efforts in the last month all in vain, wouldn't it?"

"Understood." Stiyl then turned around and started to walk away. Stopping a few steps away, he turned around again. "Does... Deep Blood really exist? If it really does exist, then it means..."

"That the 'certain organism' that it needs to kill also exists." Aleister completed

"Vampires." Stiyl muttered.

"I believe occult affairs are your expertise not ours." Aleister closed his eyes. "Now then, if Deep Blood proves the existence of vampires, then whose existence does Imagine Breaker prove?" He then grinned at the thought.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Thus ends the Index Arc.

There are a few minor changes that I have done in this part of the story. This is to make it easier for me to add new things later on.

Freya Isir is an OC character that I have created. Her appearance later on, would (hopefully) mark the part where events and outcomes on certain arcs would change. She won't be appearing for quite a while though.

The next arc, "The Deep Blood Arc," would be mostly based on the anime interpretation since there's, so far, no translation on the light novel version of the events.

Just a question to the readers... are you interested in seeing an extra chapter about Touma's appearance during the Poltergeist arc of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun? As I understand it, the arc takes place before the Deep Blood Arc. So If you're interested just tell me when you review.

As usual, if there's anything wrong grammatically or information wise, please notify me through reviews.

I have stated before that I'll be having a short break in this work as this is the end of an arc. This is so I can focus on other things such as my other written works or just to have a rest.

Well... see you on my next update!


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